Law & Disorder —

Google, Best Buy, and Sony ally against Big Cable

Obviously concerned about the cable industry's opposition to proposals for an …

You know there's going to be a showdown over some communications technology issue when Google, Best Buy, Mitsubishi, Sony, TiVo and two other big companies start a new group with the word "alliance" in it. Sure enough, the septet has announced that they've united to defend the Federal Communications Commission's new proposal for an "AllVid" standard that would make it easier for consumers to watch both pay television and the video they get from their home broadband network on the same screen.

Thus has been born the "AllVid Tech Company Alliance"—named in honor of the FCC's suggested gateway interface.

"It is essential for the Commission to break down the wall separating the home network from [pay TV] networks—not just poke a few holes in it, or rely on progress on the peripheries," the Alliance wrote to the FCC on Wednesday. "The seeds for real competition must emerge in chips, technologies, and interfaces that can be organic to tens of millions of products, services, and consumer uses—not just those presently conceived, but those that innovative minds, and users who can select and adapt their own devices, can conceive."

How would AllVid break down this wall? FCC Chair Julius Genachowski described the gadget ten months ago, indicating cable, satellite, or telco video providers would send their signals to "a small adapter on the customer's premises that would present a standard interface to all consumer devices."

AllVid could be connected to TVs, computers—pretty much anything that can show multichannel video or Internet fare. Thus Internet and multichannel TV would be integrated.

The FCC is proposing this as a replacement for its failed CableCard device—the data/security card that was supposed to let consumers pick their own set-top box. Its limited capabilities made it a flop on the video device market.

Ignoring legal rights?

Can you think of any high-profile consumer product that is just dying for this new standardized gizmo to become a fact on the ground? That's right: Google TV. The HDTV system integrates Internet and pay TV content, but Google, Sony and the gang don't want to spend years coaxing suspicious broadcasters, content providers, and cable networks into content deals. They want a device standard in which Internet and cable content are interchangeable now (or relatively close to now).

Needless to say, the cable companies are far less enthusiastic about this idea. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association has thrown a host of theoretical roadblocks in front of AllVid. "Sony/Google are asking the Commission to ignore copyright, patent, trademark, contract privity, licensing, and other legal rights and limitations that have been thoroughly documented," the NCTA warned the FCC last week.

Clearly, the AllVid Alliance is a response to the cable industry's opposition to this idea.

"Despite some recent progress in making television smart and connected, unless the Commission pursues a gateway approach[,] consumers will not have the sort of open and innovative competitive market to which they are entitled," the AllVid coalition told the FCC.

The group says it wants the Commission to make a specific AllVid plan available for public comment as soon as possible.

Matthew Lasar
Matt writes for Ars Technica about media/technology history, intellectual property, the FCC, or the Internet in general. He teaches United States history and politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Emailmatthew.lasar@arstechnica.com//Twitter@matthewlasar

So finally someone else realizes that the cable companies are becoming like the cell carriers? Soon, everything will be sold on a contract with either the cable companies or cell carriers and Best Buy and Walmart and Target, etc. will be much poorer.

I can see the gripe of big cable. This box puts free and sometimes pirated content right next to their paid content. Seems like big cable might be afraid that they won't be able to compete head-to-head like that.

I also think this sort of thing is inevitable. Now is the proposed Allvid box supposed to have any browser or email capabilities? Sure would be nice to be able to read an email linking a Youtube vid and then be able watch it with just a couple clicks, all while remaining firmly planted on my couch.

I don't get it. Why would I want this? Why not just get a Netflix subscription?

If you are someone who wants to watch current tv shows (all of them, not just those that are available OTA) as they come out, but also would like to use your GoogleTV/Roku/Boxee/MythTV/OtherRandomHTPC box to do it, AllVid is the solution.

So why do we need yet another hardware device? Why not embrace a software standards like DLNA?

I'm sure those hardware devices cost the cable company a lot of money, and I'm sure those "savings" are pushed onto customers. Plus when the idea is a total flop, ahem CableCard, you're not stuck with all that wasted hardware out there.

By the same token the FCC mandates cable supports certain functions like the Emergency Alert System, however the streaming/IP guys like Netflix and Google are allowed to ignore these kinds of features because they are unregulated.

You know, awhile back I was thinking about getting a media center device but all this commotion about blocking those devices because they allow you to watch free content online on you tv has driven me away. Right now until I can get a strictly HTPC, I am using my laptop as the HTPC, which works fine. Just need to get a Blutooth remote control and everything will be complete.

This is where the rubber meets the road. The problem is the large amount of laws in this area, and what it would open up. Google, Netflix, Hulu, and most everyone else already knows what will happen if they launch their own cable-type services. Cable broadband prices will change in a big way. If 50% of cable TV subscribers quit paying for cable TV, how much do you realistically believe the broadband cable bill will go up? TV costs far more than broadband for the average user, and many do not have broadband at all. I like most people here want to bring down prices, and have more choices. If anyone can get a Roku type box and receive most of their current cable type programming on it, we would end up paying more for broadband than TV AND broadband cost now.

The one we have, CableCARD, sucks. I recently WANTED to get Tivo, but CableCARD completely turned me off. Until there is something better, the world is stuck with getting the box from Comcast/Time Warner/Cox etc. It's time to open things up to allow the consumer to use whatever device they want and not be forced to rent their boxes. That's why. Until we can do that. Your TV will be full of devices under the television, or until that cable box can do everything you want it to do.

Why do we need yet another hardware device? Because Sony wants to build it, Best Buy wants to sell it, and Google wants to glean information from it.

And? I don't see the problem with that. I'd rather have an open standard like AllVid where any company can innovate in this market segment -- that way I would get many choices of how/where/when I can view the content I've paid for, rather than my only option being the STBs that my provider is "allowing" me to use.

Google, Best Buy, and Sony. I can't imagine this being a total mess at all!

Their big enough to actually give any notice. Tivo isn't big enough to get any attention. They also have interest in this for their own business purposes, of course. If we can get a better alternative to CableCARD. A win win situation.

So why do we need yet another hardware device? Why not embrace a software standards like DLNA?

Because just having the connectivity isn't the problem. The problem is that the content producers/providers don't want to play ball and allow their content to be used in ways that compete with the incumbent cable providers/etc. Companies like Google want to be able to compete in this space but cable providers obviously don't want competition.

It just occurred to me that all these arguments about Net Neutrality, how and where I view my videos, watch my TV, who I pay for content, and how these companies contrive to suck my paycheck dry while I mindless stare at my TV and or display while sitting on my ass getting pudgy, makes me think I seriously need to go outside and get some exercise.

Get Apple to design the device, and it will be a success. Anyone else does it and we'll get a mess like Cablecard.

And it's not just because I'm a Mac Wingnut. It's because Apple's focus would be on the consumer experience, not the profit margins of the companies. Yes, Apple cares about profits, but they realize that it's in treating the customer right - as a customer and not a indentured slave like cable and cell companies treat people - that they have become the largest, most respected (except amongst a small slice of anarchists and geeks who wish they had CLIs on their phones) tech company on the planet.

I don't get it. Why would I want this? Why not just get a Netflix subscription?

Netflix is only one provider. Yes, they do a great job and seem to be very nice, but there's virtually no competition which is still not good. Also, every try to watch live TV on Netflix? How do I tune into Cartoon Network via Netflix or the History Channel?

Netflix is great for movies, bout lousy for live TV. Actually, there is not live TV.

What the cable companies do not seem to realize is that this is step one, the most beneficial step for them. What the AllVid guys are saying is "We have this device that will do XYZ, do you (the cable companies) want in?" So far, they do not. Step two is the AllVid gents going to the separate IP owners and saying "We have this device that will do XYZ, you (IPs) are going to want to get in on this". Completely circumventing cable companies and leaving them out. Step two will take more time (and probably more money), but it will, eventually, get done.

Regardless of what one might think about the name "AllVid" and its conglomeration, it is a step toward the future of television content.

Why do we need yet another hardware device? Because Sony wants to build it, Best Buy wants to sell it, and Google wants to glean information from it.

And? I don't see the problem with that. I'd rather have an open standard like AllVid where any company can innovate in this market segment -- that way I would get many choices of how/where/when I can view the content I've paid for, rather than my only option being the STBs that my provider is "allowing" me to use.

Yeah I don't have a problem with it either. I was responding to a post asking why there's a need for yet another device. If someone wants it and it does what they want it to do then it's a great solution. But to think these companies got onboard purely for the consumer is naive.

You are so right cdclndc, and yet here I am at a desktop computer, as well.

What I'd really like to see is Microsoft and Apple and Intel jump into this. Just unite and make this happen. The gauntlet was thrown down with the Comcast NBC Universal merger.

Once everyone has at least one friend who has embraced unshackled TV the transition can happen fast and we can leave this ridiculous TV-with-competing-schedules behind. Not sure how close we are to that tipping point, though, it's what's really needed for an alliance like this to succeed.

I'm surprised that there are commenters here that would rather throw their hands up than embrace AllVid. Another hardware device? It would replace your cable boxes and give you full connectivity on HTPCs!

Get Apple to design the device, and it will be a success. Anyone else does it and we'll get a mess like Cablecard.

And it's not just because I'm a Mac Wingnut. It's because Apple's focus would be on the consumer experience, not the profit margins of the companies. Yes, Apple cares about profits, but they realize that it's in treating the customer right - as a customer and not a indentured slave like cable and cell companies treat people - that they have become the largest, most respected (except amongst a small slice of anarchists and geeks who wish they had CLIs on their phones) tech company on the planet.

This is a total "non problem". As others have said, set top boxes could simply communicate with the rest of the world with well established interfaces and protocols. You don't have to invent anything new really. Just force Big Cable to use more PC friendly technology. This would also have the side effect of making it much easier for home electronics components to talk to each other too.

Despite of various efforts, the most reliable way to communicate with a cable box is still an IR blaster.

The cable box needs to be relegated to something like a serial modem with a standard command protocol. Cable card tuners are already effectively embedded ethernet boxes. Do the same thing with the entire cable box, forget the idea of internal cards and just let the TV or the PC have full control over the STB.

Also: ALLOW NO ENCRYPTION.

That's the big hurdle with cable card. It's setup like a cartel with far too many rules for gaining access. Big Cable is allowed to act as gatekeeper and effectively keep everyone out and impose very eggregious burdens on those that they let in.

Let Big Content take it's ball and go home if it wants. Industry standards should improve diversity in the market place rather than stifle it.

I'm actually getting tired of Google trying to mine information from every part of my life. What started out as a benign company that offered a fantastic and simple search engine has now become the world's biggest information pimp, and they want me to be their information whore.

I don't want Google to track what I'm searching for (via google.com), what pages I'm looking at (via Chrome), what I'm saying on the phone (via Google Voice), what's happening in my email (via Gmail), and where I am and what I'm doing on with phone (via Android phones). Now they want to know what I'm doing on my TV.

When I was a boy, I was afraid of the evil monsters that lurked in my closet. As an adult, I'm beginning to get a bit worried about the Google monster. I know that the company has that whole "Do no evil" corporate philosophy, but in a world where almost anyone's soul is available to the highest bidder, who knows where my information will end up, and how it will be used when it gets there.

This can't come soon enough. Really all I want is to be able to buy whatever device I want, whether it be a HTPC, Boxee box, Apple TV and allow it to take input from my home cable. The prices which we are charged here in Canada for a STB is outrageous, especially given the complete crap that they are. UI's from the early 90's at best and terribly slow as well as being fugly from a design perspective. Let me plug my cable into my apple TV, I will still subscribe to get content from my local cable provider, but I'm getting tired of having to use their equipment.

This is a total "non problem". As others have said, set top boxes could simply communicate with the rest of the world with well established interfaces and protocols. You don't have to invent anything new really. Just force Big Cable to use more PC friendly technology. This would also have the side effect of making it much easier for home electronics components to talk to each other too.

Despite of various efforts, the most reliable way to communicate with a cable box is still an IR blaster.

The cable box needs to be relegated to something like a serial modem with a standard command protocol. Cable card tuners are already effectively embedded ethernet boxes. Do the same thing with the entire cable box, forget the idea of internal cards and just let the TV or the PC have full control over the STB.

Also: ALLOW NO ENCRYPTION.

That's the big hurdle with cable card. It's setup like a cartel with far too many rules for gaining access. Big Cable is allowed to act as gatekeeper and effectively keep everyone out and impose very eggregious burdens on those that they let in.

Let Big Content take it's ball and go home if it wants. Industry standards should improve diversity in the market place rather than stifle it.

That's what AllVid is proposing; and to be fair, so did CableCard. A single "box" that provides an unencrypted signal to any device in the house to be used with whatever UI / Interface you want. CableCard had the same idea before total control was relegated to the cable co.'s. Obviously, they decided that their rental fees were more important than your time & patience.

Other that live broadcasts, can we move past the idea of a TV schedule? Shouldn't the latest episode of CSI just get released and be available for people to watch, whether on CBS.com, Netflix, Hulu, or whatever? Why do recorded TV shows still get streamed via broadcast at selected times? That model was necessary historically, but that's no longer the case, and it's just inconvenient to everyone to keep thinking in that model. Once you upload a video to Youtube, people can watch it whenever they want. The idea that episode 47 of CSI is going to broadcast from 21:00 to 22:00 EST on 2/24/2011 is ridiculous anymore. That's what necessitated DVRs, but the DVR really needs to be relegated to live events at this point, and we need to just get to where we have access to libraries of already released shows.

Other that live broadcasts, can we move past the idea of a TV schedule? Shouldn't the latest episode of CSI just get released and be available for people to watch, whether on CBS.com, Netflix, Hulu, or whatever? Why do recorded TV shows still get streamed via broadcast at selected times? That model was necessary historically, but that's no longer the case, and it's just inconvenient to everyone to keep thinking in that model. Once you upload a video to Youtube, people can watch it whenever they want. The idea that episode 47 of CSI is going to broadcast from 21:00 to 22:00 EST on 2/24/2011 is ridiculous anymore. That's what necessitated DVRs, but the DVR really needs to be relegated to live events at this point, and we need to just get to where we have access to libraries of already released shows.

It would be nice, but the current advertising model is tied to time of day (ratings dictate ad rates), and that's what pays for most of what we see. Networks are loath to give that up.

Get Apple to design the device, and it will be a success. Anyone else does it and we'll get a mess like Cablecard.

And it's not just because I'm a Mac Wingnut. It's because Apple's focus would be on the consumer experience, not the profit margins of the companies. Yes, Apple cares about profits, but they realize that it's in treating the customer right - as a customer and not a indentured slave like cable and cell companies treat people - that they have become the largest, most respected (except amongst a small slice of anarchists and geeks who wish they had CLIs on their phones) tech company on the planet.

Sorry, but I disagree. Apple may "treat the customer right" but they treat the content providers with utter disdain, perhaps rightly so in some cases (e.g. DRM on iTunes). The cable companies hold all the cards in the content game and they know it (see: CableCard). They don't want to let anyone else control access to their content, least of all Apple.

I can't believe people in here are actually arguing against a device that could possibly tear down the last roadblock to ala carte television and free us from the abusive reign of cable. Put me firmly in the "can't come soon enough" bin. I just finally cut the cord completely last week. It's working well with my PC and PS3, but if I could snag a layperson-proof GTV for the family room and an ATV2 to throw XBMC on without worry of blocked content or this "web only" crap, I'd be all over it.

Why do we need yet another hardware device? Because Sony wants to build it, Best Buy wants to sell it, and Google wants to glean information from it.

And? I don't see the problem with that. I'd rather have an open standard like AllVid where any company can innovate in this market segment -- that way I would get many choices of how/where/when I can view the content I've paid for, rather than my only option being the STBs that my provider is "allowing" me to use.

Yeah I don't have a problem with it either. I was responding to a post asking why there's a need for yet another device. If someone wants it and it does what they want it to do then it's a great solution. But to think these companies got onboard purely for the consumer is naive.

Oh, I completely agree with you -- these companies aren't in the game for the betterment of humanity.

Get Apple to design the device, and it will be a success. Anyone else does it and we'll get a mess like Cablecard.....t.

I don't think you understand what this is. The AllVid device sits in your house and makes the content that cable customers currently subscribe to available to other devices on your network. This device will come from your cable company. It's won't be made by Best Buy or Google, but probably Texas Instruments and whoever else makes the cable boxes we all hate.

Apple can then make a product that gets your legally purchased content from this device. So can Google, Sony, Tivo and whoever else. This would allow your Apple Tv to get the content that you pay for from the cable company in a standardized and legal way.

The beauty of this is that it abstracts the content delivery out and opens up the market for people who know how to design interfaces.